Four years ago in Beijing, Team GB won 47 medals, 19 of them golds. Now, with home advantage, the expectation is that these numbers will be exceeded – but by how much? UK Sport has set a minimum target of 48 medals – but our writers are looking rather higher …

Archery

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Women's team Alison Williamson, Naomi Folkard, Amy Oliver

The British women's archers just missed out on a medal in Beijing, finishing fourth. With Amy Oliver, ranked No1 in the world earlier this year, replacing Charlotte Burgess since then, the trio have built on that success and won silver for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and have an outside chance of sneaking on to the podium.

The head of UK athletics, Charles van Commenee, has said 15 of his athletes are in the medal zone but with the news of Goldie Sayers's injury and growing concerns over Phillips Idowu, there are questions over that figure. Given no one is certain what level of fitness Idowu is at, he cannot yet be discounted, but nine medals including one gold looks a fair estimate. Anna Kessel

Badminton

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Mixed doubles Chris Adcock/Imogen Bankier

Adcock and Bankier are the rising stars of British badminton having won world championship silver last year on home soil. They are ranked 10th in the world but have twice beaten the Chinese pair who defeated them to take world gold since the championships. They were chosen ahead of the veteran Athens silver medallist Nathan Robertson and his partner, Jenny Wallwork.

Basketball

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Making the quarter-finals would be a great achievement for either the British men's or women's teams. The men may boast one NBA star in the Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng but the team have not competed at an Olympics since the last time London hosted the Games in 1948, while the women have never before put a team forward.

Joshua, who won world silver last year, beating the former champion en route, is ranked fourth in the world and will be the British boxing story of the Games. All three women have a good chance of taking a medal in a field of only 36 – and they are in fine form and health. Kevin Mitchell

Canoeing

Time for David Florence to prove he can realise his ambitions and take gold to add to the silver he won in Beijing. The 29-year-old should also make podium in C2 with Richard Hounslow as the pair have already won medals at world level

Brabants is the defending Olympic champion competing at his fourth Games and while he won the race-off to earn his GB place he has been battling to recover his form after only returning to sport from his position as an A&E doctor just over two years ago. McKeever is Team GB's banker in the super-fast sprint event, the "100m on water", having won the world championships in 2010 and winning all three World Cup events this summer. The men's kayak double and women's kayak four are both under the radar but both can snatch a medal.

Bradley Wiggins's triumphant Tour de France could provide the momentum given in Beijing by Nicole Cooke's road race victory at the start of the campaign; Wiggins and company go straight into action in Saturday's road race with the team all at their best form, while the track riders have been posting personal bests in training. Medals are guaranteed, the question is what colour? William Fotheringham

Diving

This prediction is made more in hope than expectation. But with the roar of the crowd swaying the judges, I'm going for bronze in synchronised and silver in individual 10m platform dives. But for Daley to beat China's Qiu Bo to gold in the individual might just be straying into the realms of fantasy. Simon Hattenstone

The British team is strongly fancied in three-day eventing (which, oddly, takes place over four days), but the Germans may be even stronger and New Zealand should go well. Team GB should get a medal in the team event (hunch it will be bronze), with Tina Cook and William Fox-Pitt the best hopes for individual medals.

In showjumping, Nick Skelton has been widely tipped for a medal in the individual competition, but there are a score of riders in with a shout and the 54-year-old may narrowly miss out. In the team event, GB will do well to get into the top six, with Germany, France and the US most likely to fill the medal places.

The real banker for Team GB is dressage, where the UK has never previously won a medal of any hue. Laura Bechtolsheimer, Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester are strong favourites in the team event. All three have chances in the individual competition, but the 25-year-old Dujardin has timed her run perfectly and performed brilliantly at the Hartpury Festival of Dressage this month. After years of dressage domination by Germany and Holland, the Brits are oh-so-elegantly coming. Stephen Moss

Football

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Women's event

Hope Powell has tournament expertise and experience with England, and so too does the core of the Team GB squad. Made a decent start in Cardiff and with home advantage could reach the final.

Fencing

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Men's individual foil Richard Kruse

Richard Kruse, who is competing at his third Games, represents Britain's best chance of a fencing medal. Ranked 15th in the world, he reached the quarter-finals at Athens 2004 and the last 16 in Beijing. However, a silver won at the 2011 World Cup offers promise for London.

Gymnastics

Louis Smith has the most difficult routine in the pommel competition but can he pull it off for gold? He has never beaten Krisztian Berki, his great Hungarian rival, in major competition. Daniel Purvis is a hope for a medal in floor too, but he has come closest in the all-around with a fourth place in the world championships last year. Beth Tweddle's difficult bars routine could, if she completes it perfectly, threaten for the gold. But He Kexin of China and Viktoria Komova of Russia are formidable opponents. Arguably Britain's best hope of gymnastics gold comes in the trampoline, where Kat Driscoll was world No1 last year but she has suffered disappointments in major competitions in her individual event. Emma John

Handball

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Both the men's and women's British teams are rank outsiders in their first Olympics in the event and performing as competitively as they can will be their aim rather than any wild dreams of standing on the rostrum. The women did beat the African champions Angola earlier this year but neither team are expected to get out of their pool.

Hockey

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Both the men's and women's teams have realistic chances of reaching the podium. Britain's men boast their best team since the Olympic champion side of 1988, while the women have beaten the world champions, Argentina, twice in 2012. Gold is probably too far a step for either, although the women could reach the final.

Judo

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Team GB have underachieved when going into recent Games with hopes high. Britain have won just one silver since 2000 and only five medals in total over the past six Games. Even the competitors are playing down their chances this time – "Just one or two medals is a tough target to get," says Sophie Cox, who competes at 52kg. Jamie Jackson

Modern pentathlon

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Men Nick Woodbridge Women Mhairi Spence.

With Britain able to select only two athletes to compete at London 2012, competition, particularly in the women's event, was fierce. Mhairi Spence earned her spot when she won the world final in Rome in May and instantly became a good medal prospect in an unpredictable event that Britain have figured in strongly in recent Games. Russia dominate the men's event but Nick Woodbridge is ranked fifth in the world and will be hoping to do a lot better than his 25th place in Beijing.

The women's double sculls is possibly the most nailed-on gold Team GB have, with Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins dominant in their event. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning need to hold off their New Zealand rivals while the men's four, also favourites for gold, are being pushed hard by the Australian crew. However, Britain's rowing squad has the strength in depth to better the six-medal haul from Beijing. Robert Kitson

Stephen Park, the team's manager, believes that for the first time the team has "realistic" chances of winning medals in all 10 sailing events. He works on the basis that half those opportunities could be converted. The target is for four medals. Other teams, notably the Australians, are looking stronger than they were at the Beijing Games. But the British sailing team have a nice mix of youth and experience and could exceed Park's expectations. Steven Morris

Shooting

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Men's double trap Peter Wilson – gold

Peter Wilson is the world No1 in the double trap and took first place with a new world record at the Tucson World Cup 2012. Having also taken the World Cup and European championships titles in 2011, he is British shooting's best chance of a medal.

Rebecca Adlington is ranked No1 in the world over 800m and No2 over 400m, but she says herself: "It is totally different going into a Games – whoever goes in first on paper doesn't normally come out the winner." She faces fierce competition over the shorter distance.

Throw in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays and Fran Halsall will be competing in five different events in London. On paper, she stands an excellent chance of winning medals in all three of her individual events. She is ranked No2 in the 50m freestyle, No3 in the 100m freestyle, and No5 in the 100m butterfly. But she has always had problems producing her best at major championships. Keri-Anne Payne has won both the 2009 and 2011 world championships and while open water swimming is a wild, unpredictable event, Payne is, rightly, the heavy favourite to win.

At the 2011 world championships Miley won silver in the 400m, a distant second to the USA's Elizabeth Beisel, and 0.01sec ahead of Australia's triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice. Andy Bull

Synchronised swimming

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Jenna Randall and Olivia Federici are ranked in the world's top 10 in the duets but are not expected to upset enough of the pairs ranked above them to get on to the rostrum. Similarly, in the team event, Yvette Baker, Katie Clark, Katie Dawkins, Jennifer Knobbs, Vicki Lucass, Asha Randall and Katie Skelton are ranked in the top 10 but with all seven making their Olympic debuts a place on the podium is not anticipated.

Table tennis

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Realistically, Britain has no chance of a medal in either the men's or women's individual or team events. Paul Drinkhall is Britain's men's No1 after breaking into the world top 100 in the seniors this year. Joanna Parker will be Britain's singles representative in the women's event, with Kelly Sibley and Na Liu joining her in the team event.

Taekwondo

Sarah Stevenson is the world champion at 67kg and, while she has had to battle back from a serious knee injury that required surgery this spring, she is still the favourite to win gold in London. Jade Jones is the 2011 world silver medallist at 57kg, and Lutalo Muhammad must have a sound chance of finishing on the podium having been controversially selected ahead of Aaron Cook, the world No1 in the 80kg category. Jamie Jackson

Tennis

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Men's singles Andy Murray

Men's doubles Colin Fleming/Ross Hutchins

Andy Murray is seeded three for the tournament with the Olympic champion, Rafael Nadal, missing through injury. But the Wimbledon finalist's draw for the Olympics is tough and he is slated to meet Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, so sneaking on to the podium looks the most likely outome.

Triathlon

No Briton has won an Olympic medal in the triathlon and no pre-race favourite has ever won gold in the men's or women's events either, but it would still be a major surprise if a Brownlee wasn't on top of the podium come 8 August. Between them they have won most of the races they have competed in since 2009, with Alistair still top dog ahead of his brother Jonny. Helen Jenkins goes into the women's event as a lukewarm favourite, too, and loves the Hyde Park course, so she has every chance. However, if the Canadian Paula Findlay, who has been out through injury for nearly a year, is back to her best she will be difficult to beat. Sean Ingle

Volleyball

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As with the handball, the London Games will be the first Olympics at which British teams have competed in the men's and women's events and, consequently, the emphasis is on good performances and improvement rather than winning medals. The women are even self-funded and took up residence at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue so they could train at the English Institute of Sport.

Water polo

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This is the first time that the men have sent a team to an Olympics since 1956 while this is the first time a British women's team will ever have competed. The men have a very tough group that includes all three medallists from Beijing – the champions, Hungary, the silver medallists, the USA, and the bronze-medal-winning Serbia. Neither the men's or women's teams are expected to progress beyond their group.

Weightlifting

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The 18-year-old Commonwealth bronze medallist Zoe Smith is the poster girl for British weightlifting but London 2012 will come too early for her to claim a medal in the 58kg category. Smith finished 15th at last year's world championships but will be looking to set yet another personal best rather than view the medal rostrum with any real hope. The Commonwealth silver medallist Peter Kirkbride finished 27th at last year's worlds and, again, is not expected to medal.

Wrestling

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The British team have only one representative after the British Olympic Association reduced its Olympic allocation of places when the team's wrestlers failed to meet BOA targets at three major international competitions in the buildup to London. British Wrestling was also criticised for failing to provide a legacy from the Games, having brought in a number of eastern European athletes to compete, one of whom, Myroslav Dykun, failed a drugs test this year. As a result the Ukrainian-born Olga Butkevych, who won bronze at the 2011 European championships after getting special dispensation to compete for Britain, was given the one host nation spot after receiving her British passport in May.